De-icing materials such as salt, grit, sand, and liquid chemicals oftentimes are spread onto roadways, parking lots, sidewalks, driveways, and other ground surfaces for melting snow and/or ice. The de-icing materials typically are stored at a central storage location and transported to various application sites by a gritter or salt truck. This type of distribution scheme requires substantial time and costs, in part because of the need to employ crews to drive to the central storage location, load up the de-icing material, and deliver it to the application site. Furthermore, this distribution scheme may result in delays in the de-icing material reaching the application site, particularly in the event of a sudden or unexpected snow and/or ice storm.
Many de-icing materials must be stored indoors or else they will degrade when exposed to environmental elements. Indoor storage of the de-icing material, however, is not practical for many users due to, for example, space constraints. Furthermore, transferring the de-icing material into a spreading machine can be labor intensive process, especially if performed manually with a shovel, for example. While attachments exist for adapting a loading machine such as a skid loader for spreading a material onto the ground, typically such attachments are not well suited for spreading a de-icing material. For instance, many conventional attachments will obstruct the field of view of the operator of the loading machine, which is undesirable when spreading a de-icing material because the operator may need to maneuver the loading machine over a relatively large area (e.g., a parking lot) which is scattered with various obstacles (e.g., cars, light posts, curbs, speed bumps, etc.).
The present disclosure sets forth systems, methods, and devices for spreading a de-icing material embodying advantageous alternatives to existing spreading systems, devices, and methods, and that may address one or more of the challenges or needs mentioned herein, as well as provide other benefits and advantages.